I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to adhesive rollers and, more particularly, to such a roller used for lint removal.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Lint rollers have been long known and widely used for removing foreign particles, such as pet hair, from clothing. These previously known lint rollers typically comprise a handle having a tubular and cylindrical tape roll rotatably mounted to the handle.
Many previously known adhesive rolls for lint removal consist of a continuous strip having a backing with an adhesive provided on one side of the backing. As the adhesive becomes depleted from use, a portion of the strip is torn from the roll to expose fresh adhesive. This process continues until the entire roll has been depleted at which time a new roll is mounted onto the handle.
One disadvantage of the previously known lint roll having a continuous strip is that it is very difficult, if not altogether impossible, for the user to accurately remove a portion of the used strip equal to one revolution of the adhesive roll. Removal of more than one revolution of the strip from the adhesive roll results in waste of the adhesive roll since the excess strip removed is never used. Conversely, the removal of a strip substantially less than one full revolution of the adhesive roll results in used adhesive being left on the roll after the portion of the strip has been removed. The used adhesive, if a significant portion of the exposed portion of the roll, results in unsatisfactory lint or debris removal for the adhesive roll.
In order to provide a more uniform removal of a portion of the strip amounting to one revolution of the adhesive roll, it has been previously known to provide perforations across the strip at spaced intervals along the adhesive strip corresponding substantially to one full revolution of the adhesive strip on the roll. However, it has been found that if the perforations are spaced along the strip so that the perforations directly overlie each other, this can create a hump in the roll which interferes with the desired smooth rolling action of the adhesive roll on the handle.
One previously known construction to overcome this problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,038 to Wood. In the Wood patent, each sheet on the adhesive roll is longer than its underlying sheet by a preset overlap amount. Thus, with the Wood construction, the perforations are not aligned with each other thus eliminating the potential hump on the adhesive roll. However, since each sheet is longer than its underlying sheet by the overlap amount, each sheet necessarily extends more than one revolution around the roll. Consequently, the removal of each sheet on the Wood adhesive roll represents wastage, i.e. an unused adhesive portion of the roll, equal to the overlap amount for each sheet. Thus, fewer sheets can be provided on a strip of the same length than if the overlap portion is removed.